The Battle for Bridgewater: How did this happen?

Monday

A battle has erupted in Bridgewater with power struggles and philosophical debates being blamed, but some wonder if the town is simply steeped in mistrust and everyone’s getting off on the wrong foot.

When Bridgewater’s town manager turned up at a March council meeting with his attorney, councilor Michael Berolini knew things had escalated.

“Honestly Mr. Clarkson went to that low; we didn’t think it’d get to that level,” Berolini said.

Within four months of the town’s new government taking reign, a battle for power has erupted in Bridgewater.

As officials dispute what’s good for the town, some wonder if the town is simply steeped in mistrust and involved parties are just getting off to a bad start.

“Maybe we got off on the wrong foot,” Bridgewater Town Councilor William Callahan said.

Just months ago, Bridgewater’s future was looking bright after a years-long bout of infighting and financial woes.

“We were on the right track,” Callahan said.

Townspeople voted away traditional New England governing in April 2010 for a new, more streamlined system. Then in June, after three successive tax override defeats, voters finally agreed to pay more to help fund the town.

“It’s real. It’s palatable,” Town Manager Troy B.G. Clarkson said at the time, describing the hope he felt among residents and town workers.

The extra tax money saved the senior center from closing, helped the town library hours significantly expand, paid for more firefighters and police officers, and boosted the budget for schools and other departments.

“It’s about change in Bridgewater,” councilor Kristy Colon said at the time. “Everybody is looking for some change.”

The town readied as the first-ever Bridgewater councilors were to take office.

Clarkson scheduled workshops so councilors could not only get acquainted but receive crash courses in town finances and government structure.

He commissioned local student volunteers to build the councilors a fancy meeting table and oversaw renovations to their meeting site.

Then the final town meeting in November, filled with pomp and circumstance, welcomed the new councilors with banners to mark the historic occasion.

But beneath the surface, discontent was bubbling.

At that final town meeting in November, then-selectman Michael Demos skipped the festivities in protest. He hoped a boycott would draw attention to what he believed was an attempt by the town manager to overstep lines of authority.

A tension had been growing among Clarkson and some selectmen, and Demos’ boycott raised suspicion that the next few months may be bumpy.

“The transition happened awkwardly,” Demos said

The transition of government started in April when Clarkson received a boost in power and responsibilities after the election. Meanwhile selectmen were stuck in a lame-duck position for eight months as the town waited for councilors to take office in January of 2011.

“During that time some members of the then-Board of Selectmen abdicated their roles and delegated to Mr. Clarkson executive powers that they should have shared,” Demos said. “By design, this gave a false impression to casual observers who did not understand that this dynamic was wrong.”

Clarkson quickly embraced the boost in responsibility, but Demos and Berolini, the only selectmen who later became councilors, often challenged Clarkson’s actions, believing he was inaccurately interpreting the new charter and granting himself unauthorized powers.

The tension was highlighted in August when Demos and Berolini disputed Clarkson’s approval to re-hire a laid-off firefighter.

Clarkson defended the hire, saying his new job title granted him the authority as $200,000 in override money was already approved for Fire Department hires.

But Demos and Berolini said the town wasn’t fiscally sound and said they were irked that selectmen had not been consulted.

Clarkson thinks those early disputes were less about charter interpretation and more rooted in mistrust.

“This community in particular has some inherent mistrust that has been a huge hurdle to overcome,” Clarkson said. “I think a lot of conflict is due to that.”

When councilors finally took office in January, their first meeting, though lengthy, was speckled with healthy debates.

But by month’s end, those debates turned into heated arguments.

Clarkson’s actions on several issues were being challenged and some councilors were angry Clarkson wasn’t involving them more in his decisions.

For example, some councilors questioned Clarkson’s judgment in hiring a consultant to study a zoning change on a commercial development.

This consultant was also employed by the developer so some councilors, like Berolini, feared the consultant would hold a bias.

The study was going to analyze the effect of changing the property’s zoning from commercial to both commercial and residential.

Berolini questioned if such a study was necessary at all, believing that the the town needed more commercial development, not less.

Clarkson argued the study was only exploratory and was offered at no-cost by the developer. He said another study could be ordered down the road by a different consultant if this study sparked interest.

Some councilors were also angered when learning Clarkson was allowing the new science building at Bridgewater State University to tap into the town’s sewer system.

Councilor Peter Riordan thought councilors should be weighing-in on such negotiations and said that Clarkson was hurting the town’s negotiating “leverage.”

Clarkson defended his decision, saying that the university was tapping into the sewer system as part of a larger university-town agreement which called on the university to work collaboratively with the town on necessary water and sewer upgrades.

He said a mutually beneficial relationship was budding with the university, after a period of bitterness and resentment.

Tensions were high and continued to escalate when councilors disapproved of the 2011 goals that Clarkson submitted for himself and responded with their own set of goals for Clarkson, which he disapproved.

The power debate in town was in full force.

Some councilors generally supported Clarkson, like Callahan who said Clarkson’s judgment should be put on trial during semiannual job reviews.

Until then, Callahan said the new charter gave the “municipal expert” authority day-to-day and that councilors needed to focus on setting policy.

Councilors were divided yet there has never been a clear line of division as councilors votes vary from issue to issue.

On March 15, the board ordered Clarkson to a disciplinary hearing.

The reason for the hearing was never announced and the hearing was postponed when Clarkson turned up with his attorney.

The hearing has yet to be rescheduled. But by mid-April, both sides, councilors and Clarkson, had hired lawyers.

Maribeth Conway can be reached at mconway@enterprisenews.com.

READ MORE in our special report, Bridgewater on the Brink.

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